Managing Change

Category Archives: Training

It’s the alpha of success and everybody has one. A positive attitude can compensate for a lack of knowledge by making it easier for you learn and for others to teach you. People who cultivate consistently positive attitudes expect great things; work hard for those things and are more likely to achieve them.

Here are some simple things you can do, now, that will help to develop a good attitude:

Use a clock radio that plays music that is soft and pleasant to wake you up. Don’t use a loud alarm clock. Okay, some of you are laughing at this one because you’re saying that soft and pleasant music won’t help you get up but keep you sleeping. Guess you’ll have to pass on this one; remember, the loud alarm you need to wake you doesn’t add to your positive attitude.

Allow yourself enough time to prepare for the day’s activities at a civilized pace. Don’t get up at the last possible moment. Yes, this may mean you have to go to bed a little earlier. What are you willing to sacrifice to have a better attitude and more success?

Think of three specific things you can be grateful for while sitting on the “throne.” Do this every day! Don’t worry about how original you are. You’ll feel better inside and out.

Think about the positive things you expect to accomplish today. Don’t listen to news of the world’s problems or worry about your own problems while you are getting your day started. Giving your worries a rest for a few minutes goes a long way in helping you have a better attitude and, many times, will give you new insight into some of those issues.

Eat a healthy breakfast. No, a cup of coffee and a cookie do not qualify as a healthy breakfast. Studies have shown this not only helps your attitude but also curbs the midmorning munchies and aids in a healthier body. This one may take a while before you get used to it.

If you read the paper while eating breakfast, skip the negative “stinking thinking” news. Skim the headlines to keep yourself informed. Read the comics before you put the paper away, and be sure to make yourself laugh. Yes, I said MAKE yourself laugh!

When you think positively about yourself, you work harder at what you want to do and give up less easily. When you think more positively about your colleagues, employees, spouse and children, you build stronger and more productive relationships which leads to greater success at work and at home.

Cultivating a positive attitude isn’t always easy. However, the more you work on it the easier it gets. If you think you are already too busy and don’t have time think about how much time you spend watching television or just surfing the Internet each day. If you reduce one of these activities by just 30 minutes per day you will have captured more than 7 ½ full 24-hour days.

Which will help your attitude and success more – 7 days a year watching television or 7 days a year building your future? The choice is all yours.

Some people have a lot and others very little. In fact, how much we have can vary greatly depending on time and circumstances. The more positive it is can drive you to new levels of success and, conversely, the more negative can stop all progress.

You can call it self-confidence, self-esteem, self-respect, self-worth or even self-image and for years psychologists and behavioral scientists have recognized it as the single, most significant force directing and determining your life toward success or failure, fulfillment or frustration, illness or health.

The quality of your life actually reflects the image you have of yourself. Without exception, everything about you, your relationships, your work, your financial position, and even your mental, emotional and physical well-being is powerfully affected by your self-image. The bottom line, how you think of yourself is how you appear to others. Changing your thoughts will only work if you truly believe them. You can change your words but if inside you are still thinking something else then that is what will come out.

There never was a winner who didn’t believe that he or she deserved to win – in advance! Winners deserve to win. You have to have a dream if you’re going to make a dream come true. Your real value is in your potential, not just in your performance to date. Successful people believe in their own worth, even when they cling to nothing but a dream. They can do this because their own self-worth is stronger than the rejection or acceptance of their ideas by others.

Our self-confidence is a journey, not a destination. It started building in childhood and continues today to change; growing or shrinking depending on our experiences. Our parents helped us to feel worthwhile and competent in mastering childhood tasks. Our self-confidence continued to be nourished through achieving competency in areas important to us.

Self-confidence affects our entire life. In general, the rougher the going gets on the outside, the greater the need for self-worth on the inside. Your ability to overcome obstacles is enhanced if you have high self-confidence. You are who you think you are, no more, no less. That’s why it pays to think great!

If you want to improve your it, try something new and follow through, follow through, follow through. All attempts you make give you practice toward your goal. Remember Thomas Edison’s reply when asked about his work finding the right filament for the light bulb, “Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work.” If you learn something from every attempt you might not have reached your goal yet but you sure have learned a lot; and learning something new is always a good self-confidence booster.

There are two words in our language that are responsible for destroying more successful plans than any others. They’re used so often most of us are not even conscious we say them. On the surface, they are just words. Subconsciously, they set up a whole mindset that undermines success, creates unhappiness and stifles creativity.

The words are “can’t” and “but”. Properly speaking, “can’t” should only apply when there is a physical or literal impossibility. For instance, “I can’t jump from the Earth to the moon”; it is physically impossible to make that leap. Unfortunately, we’ve grown to using it for a whole myriad of excuses.

We use “can’t” to give ourselves an easy out. I can’t, so let me go on my way. I can’t do it so I don’t have to feel guilty. I just can’t. There are so many better ways to phrase what is going on that will allow for possibilities. Here are some examples:

Destructive Statement:

I can’t achieve my dreams because I don’t have enough money.

Possible meaning:

I don’t want to achieve my dreams and I’ll use money as an excuse.

or

I’m embarrassed by not having the money I need so I won’t do anything.

Supportive Statement:

How can I raise the money I need so I can achieve my dreams?

or

I don’t have enough money now to achieve my dreams. What creative ways can I find to either gain more money or decrease the expenses to achieving my dreams?

Destructive Statement:

I can’t do the exercises because I don’t have enough time.

Possible meaning:

I don’t think I’m worth taking time to do the exercises.

or

Everything else I do is more important to me than the exercises.

Supportive Statement:

What can I sacrifice to allow me the time I need to do the exercises?

or

What benefits will I get from doing these exercises and what is that worth to me in comparison to everything else in my life?

Destructive Statement:

I can’t quit smoking.

Possible meaning:

I’m afraid if I quit smoking I’ll pick up a worse habit.

or

I don’t care about life that much.

Supportive Statement:

What small step can I take today to lessen my dependency on smoking?

or

Who do I know I turn to for help in quitting this addiction?

Realize what you are doing when you use “can’t”; you are allowing yourself to quit. Is it really “can’t” or is it “I don’t want to”, or “I don’t know how”, or “I won’t”, or “I’m afraid”? What if you didn’t allow yourself to quit? What would you be capable of then? Try wringing “can’t” from your ways for a day. Do you think you can or do you think, “I can’t!”

The other worst word is “but”. “But” is a little more subtle; it’s the qualifier we use when we want to say something without really saying it or when we really mean something different. It’s the qualifier we put in that could really be left out. When trying to determine the real meaning in a sentence try taking everything that appears before the “but” and then listen for meaning.

Destructive Statement:

I’d really like to help but I have to work.

Adjusted Statement

I have to work.

Meaning:

I will be at work instead of helping.

or

I don’t really want to help so I’ll use work as an acceptable excuse.

Destructive Statement:

My dreams are important but I have others to think of first.

Adjusted Statement

I have others to think of first.

Meaning:

Other people are more important than my dreams.

or

I’m afraid to go after my dreams so I’ll focus on other people.

“But” has a much greater impact on our inner voice conversation. It’s easy to justify being nice to other people when using this word. However, when you are talking to yourself is when “but” becomes very destructive. How often do you use this word inside your own head? Think of the possibilities if you look at your feelings in their true meaning. Is it time to wring “but” from your ways, for even a day?

While you are wrestling with these worst words, listen to someone you consider very successful. How often do you hear these words coming from their mouth? No very many times, I’m sure.

The time for change had come. The leadership had tried working with the people running the program for almost two years and still they hadn’t made the progress they desired and knew could be achieved. I was approached and asked to look at the program and see what would be needed to get the desired results.

I began, as I do with any change project, by listening vigilantly to the people sponsoring the program as well as the students participating in it. What I found was a disjoint between what the sponsors wanted to see learned and what was actually internalized. The program had been around for over 30 years in similar forms throughout the world and by all records, very successful in accomplishing its goals. Why was ours not reaching its full potential?

Keeping in mind all I heard from the listening to the people and all I learned from researching these kinds of programs I created a whole new design for the program. It felt like it was time to try something new. Traditionally, the program was always delivered in one block of time, usually five days in a row. My design was to split it across seven sessions, meeting for a full day once a month.

It took a little work to convince the leadership to try the new idea. Once they were on board, the task become convincing the groups that sponsor the program to support the new design. I knew presenting such a different format would be met with some resistance. When it was time to present to the sponsoring groups I thought I was ready. I had my research, my design and feedback from past participants. What I didn’t have was data supporting the seven-month format.

I was not prepared for the vehemence of their response. It was more than just resistance to change; many people felt the program was working just fine as it was and the change wasn’t necessary. Others felt the change would make finding participants much more difficult due to the extended commitment. Still others saw the change as corrupting the tradition of the program and would cause a negative perception for the sponsors. A few were willing to try it for a year but reserved full support until they saw some results. After what seemed like hours of discussion we had enough support to go forward with the new design.

The first year saw a small group of participants, all fully sponsored. The results were better than any of us could ever imagine. When asked about their experience, all the participants thought they learned more from the once a month format than they would have learned had all the information been presented in a one week program. The program was, by all records, a huge success. While we won many more supporters after that first year, there still were those who disagreed with the new format.

The change has been in effect for the past five years and the number of people supporting has steadily grown. While there are still some who would rather see the format go back to one week, many, many others like it just the way it is.

It took almost five years of answering questions, resolving concerns and graduating successful participants to prove the validity of this programs new design. While it wasn’t always easy, it was always worth it. It took a little faith and a lot of confidence.

I’ve been a trainer and teacher for all my adult years. At the core, it is what I am. It seems I look at every situation as a learning opportunity – sometimes to the frustration of my friends and family.

Always trying to find better ways to reach people I developed three basic principles that appear in everything we do: patience, balance, and relaxation. Before we get twisted in multiple definitions let me define how I use them.

Patience is about waiting for the right moment to act. You do this automatically in many situations. An example is waiting your turn to speak when in a conversation with someone. If you try to speak at the same time as someone else something in the conversation gets lost.

Balance is about knowing what to do when patience has determined the right moment to act. Knowledge coupled with understanding creates balance. We are learning creatures. The more we learn the better our lives become. The more we learn the more balance we have in our lives.

Relaxation is about not trying to make something happen but letting it happen. When we have patience to wait for the right moment; have the balance of knowing and understanding what to do; and trust to let it happen, all goes well. The hard part of this is overriding our desire to control everything around us.

Let’s look at an example where you probably already employ our three principles: driving a car. You’re on the highway and determine you need to change lanes because the car you are approaching is moving slower than you. Do you just switch lanes? Hopefully not; first you look to make sure the lane where you want to go is clear. You wait for the right moment to change lanes. This becomes especially important the more traffic there is on the road. Now that we’ve got the right moment we have to know what to do in that moment; turn on the blinker, rotate the steering wheel appropriately, check our speed, and keep an eye on all the other vehicles. The relaxation is a little harder to see. No, we don’t just go limp at the steering wheel and expect the car to operate on its own. Relaxation in this case is being comfortable with our steering; speed and spacing to change lanes. If you don’t think this is letting it happen try driving with someone who has just received their driving permit.

I have yet to be presented with a situation where these principles don’t apply. Think of anything you already do well and these three principles will be present. Think of something you want to do better and at least one of these three will be the reason you still struggle.

All of us have been through different training programs throughout our lives; wouldn’t you agree? For most of us it started at five years old, heading off to kindergarten. The standard learning progression is elementary school, middle school, high school. After that some go off to college and graduate work. Once in the workforce everyone is engage, at one point or another, with different courses and one-the-job/life training and learning. If you take some time and remember back to any of these programs you can probably remember teachers who you felt really taught you a lot and those who you wish you never encountered.

At each of these levels of training, the equation for learning remains the same:

Learning = Knowledge Capacity + Teaching Technique

This simple equation contains a number of details: Learning is about retaining more facts about a topic, increasing our understanding or gaining a new skill. Knowledge Capacity pertains to the person who hopes to gain the Learning. It is a combination of a person’s ability to take in new information, their enthusiasm for the topic and their willingness to be taught. Teaching Technique includes the knowledge of the material by the presenter, the pace of the program and how the teacher interacts with the students. Basically, increasing Knowledge Capacity, Teaching Technique or both will lead to better Learning.

Unfortunately, the complexity of this equation increases because different forces influence each of the pieces. Let’s take a person falling asleep during training as an example. Obviously their Knowledge Capacity has been greatly diminished thus reducing the Learning. What we don’t know is the reason for their falling asleep. It could be any of a dozen or more reasons like not getting a good night’s sleep or not feeling well, becoming bored with the training, being overwhelmed by the material or not connecting with the trainer’s presentation style.

I use this equation to help make me a better trainer. Before the training begins I work to maximize the Teaching Technique as much as possible. Learn the material to present, learn about the proposed audience so the pacing and be adjusted and how to best interact with them. Once the training begins I pay close attention to the people: who is falling asleep, who looks bored, and who looks confused, as well as who’s asking and answering questions. Based on what the audience tells me physically and verbally, I adjust my teaching to accentuate the positive factors and diminish or eliminate the negative factors.

Great Learning is a dance between keeping Knowledge Capacity as positive as possible and adjusting Teaching Technique to meet the people’s needs.